Today, I’m going for a true TBT (throwback Thursday). This one of course, again, comes from my favorite night of 2013 – the night I saw Bruno Mars live at Red Rocks.

For day twenty-two of “How’d you get your hair like that, meet Michael and Keanyo. They were sitting in the front row (…) at the Bruno Mars show, and they both had dynamite hair. Mohwaks. Dynamite mohawks.

Michael was clearly not willing to divulge the many secrets behind his coif, which I suppose I could understand. He wasn’t ready to reveal, but Keanyo was. Keanyo gives me the dish on his hair: which is made up of exactly what it looks like, hairspray and frosted tips.

Follow my series here and on Twitter with @notajappycamper and #denverhair.

For day twenty-one of the #denverhair project, I decided to hop on the TBT (Throwback Thursday) trend but one day early. That means that today is TBW – Throwback Wednesday, and this installment of “How’d you get your hair like that?” comes from a one Bruno Mars concert at Red Rocks that took place a few weeks ago (read my previous posts from this show here and here).

Meet Lena, a school teacher down in Texas, who has been growing out her hair for the past four years. Lena’s locks are amazing. I love them. And for two reasons in particular:

1). Her hair is stunning.
2). It takes her about two hours to do, in order for it to look like this.

Sure. I love learning about everyone’s perfect and natural hair that somehow becomes wonderfully styled just by waking up. But for some of us, our hair needs tending. Sometimes twenty minutes, sometimes forty-five and sometimes two hours. Some of us do whatever it takes (and spend however long it takes) to achieve the look we are going for.

I have no doubt that if Lena were to do absolutely nothing with her hair, it would look just as beautiful. But hard work is hard work – whether it’s out in the field or in front of the mirror -and Lena, your hard work has paid off.

Follow my series here and on Twitter with @notajappaycamper and #denverhair.

On day twenty of “How’d you get your hair like that?” I visited Old Major in the Highlands, and finally found it: a sock bun.

This particular sock bun had been in a bun all of the work day, and it looked like it had stayed in tact pretty well. A good, practical look for the working girl on the go, and this girl happens to be Jay Jay, a special events coordinator at a nonprofit here in Denver.

Jay Jay gives the how-to on how to create her bun, and shows me how it looks from all angles – the front, the top, the side. And in fact, this sock bun isn’t a a sock at all. It’s a sponge. A hair scrunchy sponge. Very sponge-worthy.

I have the most tiny ponytail the world has ever seen – the bun my hair gets twirled into could never achieve sock (or sponge) status. But alas. There will always be buns like the one Jay Jay has got, for me to admire.

Follow my series here and on Twitter, with @notajappycamper and #denverhair.

For day nineteen of my #denverhair project, I’m featuring an email I received from Allison, a cool Denver woman with a dynamite pixie cut – the first pixie cut of the series.

I love pixie sticks, I love The Pixies, and I love a good pixie cut. But for some reason, I just hadn’t come across a notable one yet in the city. Lucky for me, Allison reached out with pics of her cut – the Allison Pixie, I’m calling it – as well as a story to go along with it.

Allison is a Coloradoan through and through – third generation to be exact – and each female, in each of those generations, had a pixie. Talk about a woman keeping the hair looking good and the tradition alive.

Allison’s side shot of her pixie cut.

Not only does keeping the pixie keep in it the family, but it also serves Allison as the best cut for her Colorado lifestyle. There’s no better person to describe the perks of the pixie than Allison herself – as she puts it, “…it’s THE ultimate style for the Rocky Mountain girl who’s low-maintenance when it comes to fashion, and spends more time in our mountains than in front of the bathroom mirror.”

And it seems to be true. While I’ve never had a pixie (and thanks to Allison, I’m about ten seconds away from searching “pixie cuts for thin hair”), it seems like the crock-pot of haircuts: set it and forget it.

As told by Allison herself, the Allison pixie can be achieved in three steps:

On day eighteen of “How’d you get your hair like that?” I encountered a beard. It was, perhaps the most amazing beard in all of the land.

Denver, meet Kalvin and his man-beard: a product of drinking whiskey, cutting lumber, gator wrestling, fishing with his bare hands and changing a flat tire.

Kalvin’s head is bald, his beard is long, and his knuckles say “Adorable” (see the tattoo on his knuckles for further details).

This is the beard to beat. Many men compliment this growth, Kalvin tells me. One would think his beard is a source of great envy for guys. But it’s not. Rather, it’s a beacon of hope for men everywhere – something Kalvin likes to refer to as the “Menaissance.”

Follow my series here and on Twitter, with @notjappycamper and #denverhair.

On day seventeen of my #denverhair project, I headed to Cherry Creek. Not just because I needed to definitely buy a new dress and shoes (keyword: need), but I also wanted to check out what kind of hair was hitting First Ave.

I found some awesome hair atop the head of Erica, a personal stylist at Nordstrom. She has got a whole method behind the making of her mane – but other than shampoo and conditioner, she doesn’t use any product. And the woman sleeps in big ol’ rollers, for God sakes.

Erica, a personal stylist at Nordstrom.

What is her hair like naturally, you ask? Oh, just some giant, luscious curls.

It’s a tough life for when you have such beautiful hair like Erica.

Follow my series here and on Twitter, with @notajappycamper and #denverhair.

On the sixteenth day of “How’d you get your hair like that?” I came across a super cool, hot pink cruiser bike with a leopard seat parked outside Leela’s European Cafe. Oh – and behind the bike were two super cool cats, who just happened to have some of the most unique hair I’ve come across.

Holly, 30, isn’t just a hairstylist and makeup artist at Hairworks. She’s also a dreadlock-ist. She runs Wicked Locks where you can color your dreads, get them set or taken out. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve got human or synthetic hair. She works with both.

Check out Veronica’s head to see an example of a dread creation that Holly has set and colored.

The video cuts off right as Holly is about to answer the question I ask her about her hair, but you get the most important information about her lady ‘hawk right in the beginning of the video – and that is, she cut and colored her locks to match her bike. Rad.

Follow my series here and on Twitter with @notajappycamper and #denverhair.

On day fifteen of “How’d you get your hair like that?” I ran into a nine year old Lily from Five Points. Lily was stylin’ from head-to-toe and had just about the cutest headband there ever was.

She told me about the many ways she does her hair (with the help of her mom) before school. I for one was impressed with the french braid she mentions. Those things aren’t easy to tackle.

I liked talking to Lily about her hair because she gave me the basics of back to school hair style: Shower, and do your hair. Sometimes it’s in a braid. Sometimes it’s in a ponytail, sometimes a bun, sometimes a headband.

It reminded me of what I used to do with my hair each morning before school. One time – I think I was in second grade – I remember I asked my mom to put my hair in pigtails, and I felt really self-conscious the whole time. I made up an excuse as why I had the pigtails, too (“My mom just said this was the easiest thing to do with my hair today.”).

Since I was a tomboy, I didn’t want to tarnish my image and become a girly-girl. I needed to maintain. And pigtails didn’t help that cause. But I suppose that day, I just wanted to feel like a woman.

Follow my series here and on Twitter with @notajappycamper and #denverhair.

On day fourteen of my #denverhair project I was in Five Points – and I’m fairly certain I found (and got to touch) the best mohawk in all of the Denver metropolitan area. Everyone, meet Neil and his mohwak. Neil and mohawk, meet everyone.

How can those of us who are meek and mild in our hair styling even begin to understand the meaning behind a thrill-seeking hair masterpiece like the Neil mohawk? Where does one even begin?

Luckily, Neil was able to de-tangle the mystery of the mohawk by simplifying the essence of the hair into numbers:

Eight and a half – how many minutes in the dark it takes to create the mohawk. In the light and in front of a mirror, the mohawk takes a bit longer to build since Neil is a perfectionist. He won’t leave the bathroom until all of the hairs of the ‘hawk are just right.

Five – how many years it took to grow the hair that make up this aesthetic stroke of genius.

Between ten and twelve – the amount of women who ask to touch Neil’s hair on any given mohawk day. Usually, at least one man as well.

Nine – the number of inches his mohawk stands at it’s tallest.

One – the number of ponytails he puts his hair in, when it’s not a special mohawk occasion.

Neil can be found playing with his band the MTHDS, where the man and his mohawk plays keyboard, sax, rhythm guitar, ukulele, and percussion. Oh, and he sings, too. He’s got the voice of an angel. Check out their upcoming shows to get in on the get down.

If you see Neil live, chances are, he’s got the mohawk. You can look. You can touch. But don’t mess it up.

Follow my series here and on Twitter with @notjappycamper and #denverhair

For for day thirteen of “How’d you get your hair like that?” I found a spry spring chicken named Leo, a recent San Jose State grad at a Rockies game.

Leo not only has an interesting hair styling routine, he has an interesting haircut philosophy. Interesting, passionate and investigative.

He’s painfully specific about what he does during his self-proclaimed ‘six-month hair cycle,’ and how he goes about choosing the next master barber to handle his hair, which can broken down into three simple steps:

1). The ask around: Leo, a man about the town, asks friends and strangers with cool ‘do’s, well, how they got their hair like that. For example, one time, Leo really dug a friend’s cut. “Dope quiff,” Leo said to his friend. “Who’d you go to for that?” While Leo didn’t want a quiff, he did want go to a barber who can murder a quiff.

2). Research: Once Leo’s gotten a few suggestions under his belt, he hits the streets and gets in touch with some barbers. He asks them how long they’ve been cutting hair. If that barber has been cutting hair for at least 20 years, he’s in the running. If not, Leo finds out who that barber learned to cut hair from. And then goes to the original source.

3). Taking hair of business: The process lasts about a week. And once he chooses a barber, he isn’t just getting his haircut. He is choosing that specific barber’s hair-cutting history. Leo believes that the haircut he is about to receive is the culmination of all of the cuts that barber has performed over his entire career. His hair gets cut, and then in six months, the cycle starts all over.